Ten professional thieves from Korea - Macao (Kim Yoon-seok), Popie (Lee Jung-jae), Pepsee (Kim Hye-soo), Yenicall (Jeon Ji-hyun), Zampano (Kim Soo-hyun), Chewingum (Kim Hae-sook) - and Hong Kong - Chen (Simon Yam), Julie (Angelica Lee), Johnny (Derek Tsang), Andrew (Oh Dal-soo) - team up to pull off the ultimate heist: steal the Tear of the Sun, a 318-carat diamond, worth some US$20 million, from a Macau hotel casino. This being a heist flick, everything, as you can assume, that can go wrong, will.
The Thieves looks and feels very much like the Ocean's 11 franchise. The similarities are staggering, as if the film is a study (and imitation) of it.
There's a ragtag group, each with their own idiosyncrasies, back story, personal vendetta and agenda, and, of course, the heist part is an action-packed payoff.
Even the cinematographic tone is highly imitative. Camera tracks follow one character, only to alight on another in the same space. Then there's the derivative score of jazzy swing music that usually accompanies the heist.
But if you can overlook these similarities, The Thieves is fun, cool and entertaining.
YP Rating: 3/5